


Valor and Vengeance

by mithrel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canonical Character Death, Episode Related, Episode Tag, M/M, Monsters & Mana (Voltron), Quests
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-11-01 22:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20531774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: Jiro finally finds the demon that killed his master.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So sometime around July of last year I entered into the alt-shiro bigbang. I did most of it by the deadline, but then various things happened...
> 
> 1) The posting schedule kind of fell apart.  
2) Voltron season 8 came out.
> 
> ..and I lost motivation. I'm almost done with this, but I'm going to try and post it in chapters. Be warned of possibly-permanent WIP-status. 
> 
> And apologies to my artist.

Jiro walks down the road after his companions, watching behind them. He took over his brother’s obligations as a matter of course, since it was the Paladin Code. He’ll grieve later. Right now he has things to do.

They’re currently searching for Meklavar’s heirloom. She had gotten a lead on it before meeting up with Blok and diverting to help, since the sorcerer was both frantic about the fate of his village and reluctant to do anything about it.

They followed up on the lead, and after pouring copious amounts of alcohol and the judicious application of gold, they have a destination.

Accordingly, they’re heading to a mine that gossip said was home to a group of duergar. How they had ventured out far enough to steal from Meklavar’s family, Jiro doesn’t know.

“Oh man, I _hate_ duergar!” Blok moans.

“You hate everything dangerous,” Pike shoots back.

“I don’t have much experience with duergar,” Valayun breaks into their bickering. “Exactly what are they?”

“They’re a race of dwarves from the Underdark,” Meklavar says darkly. “Most surface dwarves have an even chance of being good or evil, but there’s no such thing as a ‘good’ duergar.”

Valayun looks to Jiro for confirmation. He merely nods. He’s only been into the Underdark once, but it was an experience he’d hoped never to repeat.

They have the weapons they’d gotten from Carthian’s Lair, as well as other supplies. With luck, the battle will go well.

Jiro has learned not to trust to luck.

The Violet Highlands, where the mine is supposedly located, are about two miles ahead of them. They find the cave, under the bear-shaped rock, just as described.

They all hesitate outside the cave. Meklavar hefts her axe. “Everyone ready?”

Jiro reaches within himself, bringing up the Aura of Protection. When he looks up, he sees the others nodding.

“Invisibility Cloak ready!” Pike says, as he swirls it around himself, all but his head disappearing.

“I have a variety of healing and combat arrows to hand,” Valayun says, the one cocked to her bow burning brightly.

“My Aura of Protection is up,” Jiro says.

“Blok, you got full mana?”

The sorcerer sniffs. “What do you think I am, some kind of amateur?”

Meklavar smiles grimly, turning to Pike. “Remember, there will likely be traps. So _no knocking._”

“Hey, that was _one time!_” Pike scowls, then moves forward, muttering to himself. There’s a click, and he grins. “All clear!”

In the illumination from Valayun’s arrow, and a stone Blok Lit, they proceed forward into the tunnel.

They’re attacked before they go thirty feet, eight duergar leaping out. Pike puts up his hood and a moment later one of the duergar crumples, but three more appear.

Valayun shoots one through the heart, and another falls to Meklavar’s axe. A moment later a blinding light spreads as Blok casts Daylight, and all the duergar stagger back.

They’re able to mop up the disoriented duergar after that, and they stand catching their breaths.

Meklavar’s taken a wound to her arm that looks like it’s starting to fester. He walks over to her and Lays on Hands, Cleansing and Healing the slash.

Pike moves forward first, his cloak thrown back. There’s a raised area in the floor that he pokes at for a minute, then disappears and appears five feet away, as a grid of iron spikes falls from the roof to the spot he had been standing.

Blok gulps.

Pike runs his hands over the walls and floor of the tunnel, then nods. “Looks like we’re good,” he whispers.

They’re not attacked again, although Pike disarms two more traps and they have to dodge thrown spears when he accidentally trips one. The skin on the back of Jiro’s neck is tingling.

He holds up a hand as he hears voices. There’s a strong pool of evil emanating from in front of him.

On his previous foray into the Underdark, he hadn’t encountered any duergar, but already he’s developed as hearty a dislike of them as the drow that had plagued his initial journey here.

“Pike, go on ahead and tell us the layout,” Meklavar whispers. “Then we can take them by surprise.”

The thief winks and disappears. There’s no sign that he’s been discovered, and a moment later he reappears again.

“It’s a cavern with a giant pile of treasure in the center,” he whispers.

“Did you see the Jewel?” Meklavar demands.

Pike’s eyes dart from side-to-side. “I…didn’t notice.”

Jiro makes a note to make the thief turn out his pockets before they leave here.

“How many duergar?” Valayun continues, and Jiro forces his mind back to business.

“I saw at least fifteen, but there could be more that I didn’t see. There are three tunnels coming off from the cavern that reinforcements might come down. There’s pillars around the cave that could serve as cover for us…or for them,” he finishes darkly.

Jiro nods, hand on the hilt of his sword. “Good work, Pike,” he murmurs, and the thief throws a surprised glance his way.

“OK, so Pike can use his invisibility, backstab one of them, while the rest of us sneak behind the pillars. Valayun, Jiro and Blok can come at them from cover while I make a frontal attack.”

“Meklavar, there are more than a dozen duergar in there, and we have to assume there’s at least as many within easy calling range. If you charge in, you’ll be cut down in a second.”

She deflates. “But this is my quest. I have to do _something!_”

“I’m a spellcaster, but I’m better at hand-to hand,” Jiro says. “We’ll charge together.”

She shoots him a grateful look.

***

Jiro crouches behind a pillar, opposite Meklavar. He holds up three fingers, bringing them down one-by-one. When he has a closed fist, Meklavar charges with a blood-curdling yell. He’s only a second behind.

He sees one of the duergar go down with an arrow in its throat as he hews the head off another and Meklavar cuts off the axe-hand of a third.

After that, he’s too busy with the duergar coming at him to notice much, although he does see Pike glance to the ceiling and throw a knife at it. One of the stones depresses and a section of the floor sinks down. The duergar in it shriek as the depression fills with acid. Jiro winces.

It’s a difficult battle. Blok uses almost all of his mana, and Valayun is down to one arrow, but in the end, they triumph.

Valayun has a slash to her forehead. It’s shallow, but it’s bleeding heavily. Blok hands her a healing potion, and the slash disappears.

When they’ve caught their breath, they look around. There’s a kingdom’s ransom worth of treasure, mostly gold and silver, but a few jewels and weapons as well.

They go through the artifacts carefully, but although they find a few useful magical items, the Jewel of Jitan is nowhere to be seen.

“AUGH!” Meklavar screams, then devolves into cursing. “_Now_ what do we do?”

“I’ve been thinking,” Jiro says. “Your village is more than a day’s journey from here, correct?”

She stops. “At least three. Why?”

“Duergar can’t face sunlight. Unless they dug a tunnel all the way to your village--hardly worth it for just one jewel--how could they have reached there without having to deal with it?”

Meklavar’s face hardens. “They had help.”

Jiro nods. “They had help.”

***

They camp a few miles from the entrance to the Underdark, making sure to set watches for vengeful duergar. Jiro has just finished his watch, and rolls himself into his sleeping pallet, wondering what they’ll do tomorrow. The Jewel of Jitan is nowhere to be seen, and they have no other leads. Looking at the stars and pondering, he falls asleep.

He’s roused by a yell from Pike, who’s currently on watch, and bolts up to see him struggling with a hooded and cloaked figure. As the rest of them shoot up, ready to fight, Pike pins the figure to the ground using his knives.

Jiro moves over to the struggling figure, his sword held near its throat. “Don’t move.”

The figure snarls, but stills.

Jiro yanks down the hood and the kerchief concealing the figure’s mouth. He’s met with a surprisingly young face with dark hair and sparking violet eyes. “Why did you attack us?”

“You looked like you had some gold!” the young man spits. “Let me up!”

Jiro feels a sardonic smile pull at his lips. “I don’t think so.”

“He’s close to the entrance to the Underdark,” Meklavar scowls. “What do you know about the Jewel of Jitan?”

“What’s it worth to you if I tell you?” the man demands.

Meklavar’s lips press together, but she goes to her pack and brings forth a handful of gold.

The man measures it by eye, then says “The duergar hired me to steal a big green gem from a nearby village. I don’t know if that’s what you’re talking about.”

“But the Jewel wasn’t with the duergar,” Meklavar protests.

Now the man’s lips twist. “Of course not. They refused to pay me, so I killed a few of them and flew the coop.”

Meklavar reluctantly hands him the gold, as Pike lets him up. “Now give me the Jewel.”

“Ah-ah-ah,” the man says. “That wasn’t part of the deal. I only agreed to tell you what I know.”

Jiro can _hear_ her teeth grinding. “So how much to get it back?”

“Weeeell…” the man considers. “I figure you’re desperate enough to get it back that I can name my price.”

“So name it,” she snarls, out of patience, “Before I just kill you and take it from your cooling corpse.”

The man names his price. Meklavar gapes. “That’s all the loot we got from the duergar!”

He shrugs. “That’s what they agreed to pay me.”

Jiro is privately doubtful of that. “Fine.”

“But Jiro--”

“Nothing magical,” he adds, and all of them dig out the gold and gems they’d confiscated.

“Man, you owe me big for this,” he hears Pike mutter as he hands over his share.

The man draws something forth from his cloak. The Jewel looks like a huge peridot, faceted and carved with a dwarven sigil. It throws back glints from the firelight.

Meklavar snatches it, examining it for damage.

“Now,” Valayun says, “I think, considering the circumstances,” she gives a jaundiced look at the man, “I had better summon a beast to take us far from here.”

Jiro agrees and they pack up their camp as he holds his sword to the man’s chest. He backs away and pulls himself onto the beast Valayun summons and they fly away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next they deal with Valayun's quest.

They make another camp about an hour’s flight away. Despite his tiredness, Jiro can’t sleep. He hears rustling from the sleeping bag next to him and realizes Pike is awake too. Everyone else is asleep except Blok, who’s keeping watch out of earshot.

“You should try to get some sleep.”

A pause, then “I could tell you the same thing.”

Jiro sighs and sits up. “I suppose you’re used to being active by night.”

“Will you stop doing that?”

Jiro gazes at Pike’s silhouette in the dim light, astonished. “Doing what?”

“Making all those snide remarks about me. I get it, you’re a paladin, the Holiest of the Chosen, Bright Inner Light, Slayer of Evil and I’m just a thief, but I do have feelings, you know!”

Jiro stares at him. He honestly hadn’t meant to be snide, and he can’t remember any other comments he made, but maybe Pike is thinking of his brother? Or else just projecting.

“You think I look down on you?”

Pike barks out a laugh. “Yeah, sure, why wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t,” Jiro says quietly.

“But I’ve _killed_ people!”

Jiro thinks for a long moment before answering. “Did you ever kill an innocent?”

“No!” Pike says immediately, sounding appalled.

“Did you kill for profit?”

There’s a rustle of fabric. “Sometimes.”

Jiro sighs. “I fight evil because that’s what I was Called to do, and I do it without reward. You take reward, but I think you do the same thing.”

“Are you _serious?_” Pike yelps.

“I am. You have your own conscience. Did you ever steal from anyone who couldn’t afford it?”

“Of course not! What do you take me for?”

“I don’t take you for anything. I think you take yourself for something you’re not. Not everyone can be a paladin, Pike, but you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Pike is silent so long Jiro falls asleep waiting for his response.

***

In the morning they set out to find the Runestone.

“What can you tell us about it?” Jiro asks.

“The Runestone of Lapham allows the holder to communicate with and petition a boon from their gods,” Valayun says.

Pike furrows his brow. “So why do you want it? You’re not a cleric.”

“No, but the next step in my training requires that I gain the patronage of a deity, who will teach me to unlock further abilities.”

“Can’t you just, like, wave your hands around and ask?”

Pike crosses his arms and hunches over under their disgusted stares. “What?”

“So how do we find it?” Blok asks.

“We look for divine manifestations. If the Runestone is in the hands of someone evil, they may be using it for their own personal gain.”

Jiro smiles. “I can help with that.”

“Wait, so they’re _controlling_ a deity?”

“Not controlling,” Jiro says. “But some of the evil and demonic gods have a taste for blood sacrifice. Cyric, for example. It’s possible someone used the Runestone to set himself up as the charismatic leader of a cult, with the leader receiving all the material goods and the deity all the blood-power.” He pauses to let them digest that.

Valayun shakes off the impact of his words. “Of course, it’s also possible that the Runestone is being used by someone pure of heart, or even not in use at all. We won’t know until we look.”

Pike sighs. “This is going to take forever.”

***

It doesn’t take forever, but it does take some time. In the end, aided by what Valayun knows of the Runestone’s history and Jiro’s sense of nearby evil, they track down a cult of Gruumsh that’s kidnapping people. Every month, on the new moon, the priest would bring out the captives, Gruumsh would appear before his followers, and the captives would be slaughtered.

Apparently the cult leader isn’t interested in material wealth, but the terror inspired by the coming of Gruumsh and the slaying of the captives has inspired his non-orc followers into a holy crusade where they kill their own in glory to the god and are planning a mass suicide when all other non-orcs are finally wiped from Aurita.

The new moon is in two days, so they don’t have much time to free the current batch of captives. There are about a hundred followers, plus the warpriest himself to deal with.

Rumors tell of the place the captives are sacrificed, but there’s no gossip about where they’re kept imprisoned, or where the priest lairs when he’s not performing his rites.

“This is bad,” Blok says, pacing. “If we don’t know where they are, we can’t just kill the priest and free the captives. We’ll have to rescue them before the sacrifice, which means dealing with the followers _and_ Gruumsh!”

“We can investigate, anyway,” Jiro says. “They probably won’t post more than a few guards when they’re not using it.”

“Yeah, but if we kill the guards, they’ll know something is up,” Meklavar points out.

Pike sighs. “Are you going to ask me to go in again?”

“Well you _are_ a thief–“

“Ninja assassin!” Pike corrects.

Meklavar rolls her eyes. “Fine, _ninja assassin,_ and you _do_ have an invisibility cloak.”

“I wish I’d never picked this thing up,” Pike grumbles. “Fine, but only because I don’t want you to get killed before you can pay me back for the treasure I lost from the duergar.”

***

When Pike slips back into the copse of trees they’re concealed in, he looks grim. “There’s no cover. It’s all open. And it’s big. Like main-square-of-the-capital big. There’s some kind of altar deep in, but unless we sneak in before anyone comes we’ll have to fight through the crowd.”

“I can keep us invisible until we attack,” Blok says, “But we’ll have to keep quiet or they might find us anyway.”

“We need to take out the priest before he completes the summoning–” Jiro begins.

“Sensible,” Pike interrupts. “No sense facing a malevolent god if we don’t have to.”

Jiro resists the urge to glare at him, but some of his displeasure must show anyway, since Pike snaps his mouth shut.

“Even so, a hundred armed followers plus an orc warpriest?” Meklavar says. “That’s kind of a tall order for just the five of us.”

“Hopefully seeing their leader killed will give the followers pause,” Valayun says. “If not…”

“If not,” Pike completes, “we’re all screwed.”

***

An hour before sunset on the day of the new moon, they gather in the same copse. Blok concentrates, and all of them except Pike fade out. The thief puts on his invisibility cloak, and they sneak across the intervening space to the cave as quietly as possible.

There’s a bit of a squeeze at the entrance, but thankfully the cave is deep and the few hisses and grunts they make go unnoticed.

Jiro looks around the cave. It’s just as Pike said, a massive space lit by guttering torches. There’s a block of stone with dark stains on it at the farthest point from the entrance, with two piggish orc guards standing on either side of it.

He sets down one quiet foot after another, inching forward. Two minutes later he’s standing a foot and a half from the rightmost guard.

They wait.

It’s agonizing, since they hardly dare shift their weight, but soon the cultists begin filtering in, standing before the altar.

As the light from the cave entrance turns from red to violet, a murmur runs through the crowd. Jiro stands on his tiptoes to see.

A robed figure has entered the cave, followed by two more guards herding bound and gagged captives before them. The crowd parts, and they approach the altar.

Jiro is beginning to regret not planning this out more thoroughly. He can’t signal his companions without giving himself away, and if one of them attacks too soon–

There’s no sign of anyone at the front of the cave besides the orcs and the captives. The robed figure draws back his hood, revealing swarthy skin and one eye gleaming in the torchlight. The other is covered by a patch.

One of the guards forces the first of the captives, a terrified old man, to his knees in front of the stone. The warpriest begins to chant, and holds up a knife with a wavy blade.

Before he can bring it down, there’s a deafening “HYYYYA!” and the priest goes down, hamstrung and half-shanked by Meklavar’s axe.

It turns out Valayun is right. On seeing their leader go down, the majority of the cultists flee, leaving only the four guards and a few die-hards for them to deal with, along with the crippled warpriest.

One of the guards takes an arrow through the eye as Jiro catches a flash of movement in his peripheral vision and turns to see the warpriest choking on his own blood. Pike gives a feral grin and disappears again.

Still invisible, Jiro brings his blade up to handle the guard nearest him, but forewarned by the mayhem, the orc brings his scimitar up and parries.

They move back and forth across the cavern, each trying to get an advantage. Jiro ignores the cries and flashes of light around him, concentrating on the enemy he’s facing.

The orc brings up his scimitar and Jiro manages to slip past his guard, impaling him at the shoulder. As he pulls his sword out the guard goes down, stricken, and Jiro finishes him off with a heart-thrust.

When he looks up the only people alive in the cave are the members of his party and the petrified captives. Besides the guard Valayun had shot, there’s a one down with a rotting hole in his chest, and another lies on the ground with his spine severed.

Of the three cultists who had remained, all are dead, although Jiro’s not sure how or who killed them.

He takes a breath, wiping his sword on one of the guard’s cloaks, then approaching the captives. They shrink away.

Jiro sheathes his sword and smiles at them. “It’s alright. You’re safe now. Blok, take a look at them, heal anything urgent, then take them back to the village.”

The sorcerer eyes him suspiciously. “What are you gonna do?”

Jiro’s smile turns grim. “We,” he says, “are going after the rest of the cultists.”

***

The forest outside the cavern is pitch black. They split up, listening for any sounds of cultists lurking in wait. After ten minutes of fruitless searching, Jiro leans against a tree to take stock.

He hears a strangled gurgle through the trees and hastily heads in that direction.

He nearly trips over a dead cultist tangled in vines. It’s so dark he can’t see anything, so after a moment’s consideration he picks up a stone from the ground and Lights it.

In the light from the stone he sees that the vines are covered with thorns and the wounds they’ve made have a greenish tinge. He searches around the body for any signs of passage, but even with the light, he can’t see any.

He frowns. There’s something fishy going on here. He puts the stone in his pocket, cutting off the light, and creeps toward the rendezvous point.

***

Neither Pike, Meklavar nor Valayun saw any sign of cultists, living or dead, although Meklavar almost took Valayun’s head off, coming on her unexpectedly in a clearing.

They listen gravely as Jiro describes the dead cultist he found.

“Sounds suspicious,” Pike says. “I’ll go check it out.”

But Pike isn’t able to find any signs around the cultist’s body except Jiro’s.

Jiro sighs. “We’d better make sure there’s nothing left in the cave, then head back to the village.”

***

They loot the corpses and Valayun scoops up the Runestone, then they head back to the nearest village, one of a cluster of about eight in a twenty-square-mile radius.

There are people looking out for them, and they cheer as they come into view.

A man wearing fine velvets and a medallion darts up to them, shaking Jiro by the hand. “Thank you, Champions, for ridding our village of those cultists!”

Jiro smiles. Evidently the story has spread. “You are most welcome, Headman…?”

“Sorel,” he says, letting go of Jiro’s hand and beaming at the rest of them. “Your sorcerer and our priestess are seeing to the captives now.”

Jiro nods. “Headman Sorel, there is a matter of some importance we need to discuss. If there is somewhere we can clean up…?”

“Of course, of course!” he says, taking in their mud-stained and bloody appearance and flushing. “The inn is this way, follow me!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They mop up the fallout from Valayun's quest. Jiro and Pike become closer.

A half hour later Jiro is ensconced with the headman, the priestess, and Blok. The others are resting in the best room at the inn.

“So you see, most of the warpriest’s followers escaped, and we’re concerned that some might be in this village. They may try to take revenge on you once we leave.”

Headman Sorel fiddles with his medallion, clearly uncomfortable with the idea. “But what can we do?”

Jiro turns to the priestess. “Priestess Arianne, Blok could look after the captives for a few weeks. I can find the cultists, with your help.”

“Of course!” she agrees. “What…Ah! Truth spell?”

Jiro nods. “We can find out if they were with the cultists, and if so, why, and whether they are going to cause any more mischief.” He pauses. “Of course…not that I suspect you, but by your leave…?”

She nods emphatically. “Cast your spell, paladin.”

He casts Zone of Truth, and finds that neither Sorel nor Arianne are involved with the cultists, not that he’d expected otherwise.

“Right, so we need to gather the villagers and–” Jiro’s interrupted by a yawn.

“What you need to do now is _sleep._” Blok says. “We can question the villagers in the morning.”

Jiro reluctantly agrees.

***

In the morning he and Arianne gather the villagers in the town hall and take turns casting their spells. They’ve discussed it, and decide they’ll ask three questions: Were you ever involved with the cultists? Why did you become involved with them? and Do you regret it?

There are only about a hundred people in the village, but still, it takes time. He casts the spell and focuses on the first person he’s questioning, an old man.

“Were you ever involved with the cultists?”

“No,” the old man says, and Jiro doesn’t feel any resistance against the spell.

Jiro nods, as Soren makes a note on the list he’s been making. “You may go.”

The subsequent five people also have no connection to the cultists. Jiro lets the spell go and feels Arianne cast her own spell.

The next person is a man in patched clothing, whose eyes dart from side to side. Arianne questions him.

“Were you involved with the cultists?”

He looks at the floor. “Yes.”

Arianne nods, her lips thin. “Why did you become involved with them?”

“I didn’t know we’d be hurting people!” he bursts out. “A friend of mine got me involved, he said it would be easy money…when I realized what was happening…” he puts a hand over his mouth. “But by then it was too late. If I tried to get out, they’d kill me!”

“I see,” Arianne replies. “Do you mean any harm to the village?”

“No, no, goddess, no!”

Arianne crosses her arms. “The justices must decide your punishment. May Eldath have mercy on you.”

The next few people have no connection with the cultists. Then a man with bulging muscles and a sneer on his face comes forward.

“Do you have any connection with the cultists?” Jiro asks.

“Yes!” the man yells, “I was one of them, and I hate all of you! Humanity is a stain upon Aurita! You should all _die!_”

Immediately the guards come forward. It takes all five of them to restrain him. They drag him out, still raving, to confine him in the town’s single prison cell.

Jiro looks at Arianne and Sorel, who are both pale. “I think that’s enough for today.”

***

Jiro collapses on his bed in the best room of the inn. He’s rooming with Blok and Pike. Valayun and Meklavar have their own room down the hall.

“This is going to take forever, and then there are seven more villages to go.”

Blok looks at him nervously. “I wish I could help.”

Jiro shakes his head. “Thanks, but sorcerers can’t cast the truth spell.”

Pike slips into the room, carrying a steaming plate. He hands it to Jiro. “Eat this.”

Jiro raises a brow at him.

“You look like warmed-over death. Eat!”

Jiro smiles despite the insult. The thief’s shoulders are hunched and his brows are pinched; he’s worried. He picks up the spoon without comment.

***

The next day Pike sits in on the questioning, which makes Jiro wonder, but he doesn’t say anything. Valayun is trying to unlock the secrets of the Runestone, Blok is tending to the former captives, and Meklavar is seeing to their resupply. He supposes there’s not much else for Pike to do.

Today only one of the villagers they question was involved with the cultists, a hollow-cheeked, hollow-eyed woman. When Arianne asks her how she got involved with the cultists, she starts to cry.

“They captured me for their sacrifices. I was frightened. I have children! I know you must hate me for what I did, I hate myself!” She collapses to the floor.

Arianne gets up from the table and draws her to her feet. She hugs her and whispers something in her ear. The woman sobs harder, interspersed with cries of “Thank you, thank you!”

Jiro shoots a glance at Pike. He’s biting his lip and looks deeply uncomfortable, but when Jiro catches his eye he glares back defiantly.

The rest of the questioning is routine. By the end of the day they’ve dealt with a quarter of the village and Jiro is worn out again. When he gets up from the table he staggers slightly, and Pike immediately inserts himself under Jiro’s shoulder.

“I’m–“

“_Don’t_ say you’re fine, you’re obviously exhausted and I’ve done nothing but sit all day, let me help!”

Jiro smiles as Pike half-supports him out of the hall. “Thanks.”

***

It takes three more days for them to finish the questioning. By that time the captives are mostly on the mend, having suffered mainly from dehydration, malnutrition and fear, although some had been abused by the cultists and will take longer to recover.

Jiro calls a meeting in their room of the inn. “We’ve verified that most of the people in this village are innocent,” he says, looking around at his four companions. “But there are several other villages in the area.”

“And you want to verify them too,” says Meklavar knowingly.

“I have to. It’s my job to fight evil, and these cultists are evil.”

Pike snorts.

Jiro looks at him inquisitively. “You have a comment?”

“What do you expect the rest of us to do while you’re traipsing around looking for cultists?”

Jiro shifts uncomfortably. “Well, presumably Blok will want to stay here with the captives that still need tending–“

The sorcerer nods.

“And there is a ceremony I need to perform before I can use the gifts of the Runestone,” Valayun puts in.

“I’ve finished our resupply, but we’ve been going pretty hard lately,” says Meklavar. “I wouldn’t mind a long rest in a nice inn.”

“Alright, fine!” Pike snaps, turning to Jiro. “But I’m coming with you!”

“You…what?”

“Look, you’re going to be casting the same spell at the other villages, right? You need someone to help keep you from falling on your ass. And there might be bandits going from village to village, I can watch your back.”

Jiro almost sighs at the thief’s patent inability to say “I’m worried about you,” but instead he just smiles and nods. “I can use that, thank you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally go after the demon...and get some unexpected help.

Once they’ve made sure all the villages are safe, they gather in the inn to discuss their next move.

“So we’ve done everything except avenge your brother’s master, Jiro,” Meklavar says, and Jiro shifts, ill-at-ease.

“He was my master too,” Jiro says.

“Oh,” says Blok softly. “We…didn’t know that.”

Jiro sighs. He was away when the attack happened, not there when Janno died, but Shiro told him everything when he got back. If Shiro felt guilty, Jiro was worse, not even there to attempt to fight. And now Shiro is gone and there’s no one left to destroy the demon except him.

“I don’t expect any of you to help me–” he starts, but Valayun cuts him off.

“Don’t be ridiculous! When we joined together we agreed that we’d see our quests to completion. _All_ of them.”

Jiro looks around to see them all nodding, even Pike, who didn’t even have a “quest” per se. He opens his mouth, closes it, clears his throat, blinking rapidly. “Thank you,” he finally manages.

“Besides,” Pike says, aware of the awkwardness in the room, “Meklavar still owes me money. I won’t let her leave until she pays me.”

The laugh that follows is strained, but it breaks the tension.

“So what do we do?” Meklavar asks.

“If you’re sure you want to do this–”

“We already agreed, didn’t we?” Pike snaps.

“Yes, but you don’t know what I intend!” Jiro snaps back, then winces. He’s touched by their loyalty, but they’re going after a Greater Demon; he needs informed consent.

“And what do you intend?” Valayun asks, as if she’s inquiring about when to stop for lunch, not a fool’s errand that will quite probably get them all killed.

Jiro pulls out his pack, and rummages in it until he finds the bundle he’d retrieved from Shiro’s body. He unwraps the silk, revealing a single reddish scale, as large as a man’s hand.

“Is that…?” Blok starts, but doesn’t seem to know how to continue.

“The demon left this on the night he–” Jiro stops, clears his throat. “On the night Janno died. I can use it to tune in to him and find him.”

“When you say ‘find him’…” Pike leaves the rest of the sentence dangling.

“I can use it to open a portal to where the demon is,” Jiro says flatly.

“In the _Abyss?!_” Pike yelps.

“I said none of you need to help me!”

Valayun holds up her hands, forestalling any more remarks. “You can open a portal to where the demon is,” she says, glaring at Pike when he opens his mouth. “Can you return?”

“I’m almost certain,” Jiro says. “This is my home plane, and I resonate with it.”

“So you expect us to go into the _Abyss,_” Pike waves his hands around at the idea, “A _literal infinite hellscape_, and find this demon?”

“I don’t expect you to anything!” Jiro growls, hurt at the abrupt reversal, though he’d expected it. “I’m fully prepared to go alone!”

Pike sighs. “So once you get there, how are you going to survive long enough to find the thing?”

_I’m not,_ Jiro thinks. “I shouldn’t have to go far. I’ll appear somewhere close to the demon, since I tuned in on the scale.”

Pike stares at him for a moment, then collapses dramatically back on the bed with a groan. “When do we leave?” he asks the ceiling.

Jiro blinks. “’We’?” he repeats.

“Sure,” Pike says, still talking to the ceiling. “You don’t think I’m going to let you go in there alone, do you?”

Jiro swallows with difficulty past the lump in his throat. “And the rest of you? Are you going, or staying here?”

Blok gulps, but his jaw is firm. “We’re going.”

Meklavar nods, her chin jutting out.

“I have more power now that I’ve completed the ritual,” Valayun says. “You’ll need all the power you can get.”

“I–”

“Don’t get all mushy,” Pike says, sitting up again. “We need a plan of attack. What are we going to do?”

***

The next morning they leave the grateful villagers, hiking about a mile down the road. Once they’re out of sight of any passersby, they check their weapons and equipment and Jiro takes out the scale.

Jiro concentrates. The scale begins to glow. He hears Blok gasp, and looks up to see a wavering hole in the air, the size of his two fists. He closes his eyes and focuses and feels the hole expand until it’s as tall as a man.

He tucks the scale in his pocket and takes a deep breath. “Are we ready?”

He glances around at the others, who all nod.

“It might be best if we take hands as we cross, so as not to get separated.”

They take hands in a chain, with Jiro in the lead, Pike and Meklavar following him, and Valayun and Blok bringing up the rear.

Jiro braces himself and steps across the line. There’s a moment of disorientation and then…

***

He inhales a lungful of sulfurous air and doubles over, losing Pike’s hand. When he finishes coughing and straightens up, it’s worse than he’d feared.

They stand on bare rock, only a few withered clumps of scorched vegetation to alleviate the starkness. Ash rains from above, and fumes issue from vents in the rock. Occasional shudders rock the tormented earth, and the sky is covered with sooty clouds, the sickly glow leaking through them barely enough to illuminate the surroundings.

“Oh, my!” Valayun says as she looks around. Blok moans.

“Cover your faces,” Jiro says, drawing his own hood close. “The demon should be nearby.”

The rest of them muffle their mouths, hunch over and make sure their weapons are ready to hand.

Jiro takes the lead, and strikes out at random, forging through the horrific landscape, his hood stuffed in his mouth against the raining ash. His Sense Evil is overwhelmed and worthless here, so he’s reduced to using ordinary senses. They encounter a group of quasits, but easily dispatch them. The terrain is mostly deserted, and it makes him uneasy.

Suddenly there’s a swirl of fire and it stands in front of them.

The Leviathan Demon.

For a moment Jiro is paralyzed, staring up at it. It’s so tall its head is level with the tallest mountains surrounding them. Its skin is a dull red-brown, like old blood, and scabby. Two straight, spiraling black horns jut from its forehead, and its eyes glow the blue of flame.

“Fools!” it bellows, “Coming thus into my demesnes!”

Jiro snaps out of his immobility, feeling the others come up behind him. This is the demon his brother swore to destroy. His soul can’t rest until Jiro destroys it. He draws his sword.

Valayun looses an arrow and it arcs up toward the demon, a pitiful barb against its horny hide. There’s a flash of light, and just before the arrow hits, it multiplies into a dozen crossbow bolts, which bury themselves in the demon’s chest.

The demon bellows and sweeps a clawed hand down. They scatter, moving around the demon as they planned in the inn.

Blok and Valayun circle behind the demon as Jiro and Meklavar face it head on. Pike disappears and a moment later the demon stumbles. Jiro smiles. Pike’s dagger is small, but it’s coated in a lethal poison.

Meklavar screams and darts forward, slashing a claw off the demon’s foot. Before Jiro can cry a warning, the demon’s arm sweeps down and casts her aside. She smashes into a nearby hill and doesn’t get up.

Enraged, Jiro darts forward and stabs into the demon’s shin, ducking behind it. He sees a flash as Blok casts Magic Missile at the demon’s back, then he backs off as Blok goes over to Meklavar. Jiro sees him put his arms underneath her and force a potion down her throat.

Valayun lets another arrow fly from her bow–flaming this time–and it multiplies as the other did. The demon takes a step to the side, and yowls as a trap closes on its foot.

They’re outmatched–Jiro knew that going in, but he’s angry with himself for letting the others come with him. He looks up and meets the demon’s eyes for the first time.

He should have known better than to make such an elementary mistake. He’s immediately transfixed by those eyes, and he finds himself taking a step forward, then another.

He can hear the others yelling at him, but it’s just so much noise. He’s almost within reach of the demon when he’s suddenly knocked aside.

His line-of-sight broken, he looks up, dazed, to see the young man who’d tried to rob them, his hood loose and hair askew. “Wh-” he starts.

“No time, come _on!_”

Jiro realizes he’s right and gets hastily to his feet. Meklavar’s back in the fight now too, and there’s what looks like a dire wolf attacking the demon from behind.

Between the seven of them, they slowly whittle the demon down using strike-and-run tactics that take advantage of their greater maneuverability.

The young man mutters a spell and Jiro sees vines sprout to entangle the demon. Before it can snap them, Jiro rushes forward to hew at its leg again.

The demon staggers, rights itself, staggers again, there’s a flash as another trap is triggered, and the demon begins to fall, slowly, like an avalanche, but just as deadly.

“LOOK OUT!” Valayun yells, and Jiro manages to dodge out of the demon’s way as it lands with a crash that shakes the whole area and knocks him off his feet.

He picks himself up, coughing and looks around frantically for the others. “Sound off!”

“I’m…fine,” Valayun’s voice comes. “Just dizzy.”

“Ow,” Pike says, but before Jiro can panic he adds “I’m okay! _Damn_ that thing was big!”

The young man comes into sight behind him, whistling for his wolf. He looks battered, but intact.

“Blok! Meklavar! Where are you?”

“We’re over here!” the sorcerer’s voice comes from beyond the carcass of the demon. “We’re okay!”

Jiro is hardly able to believe they all survived. As Pike approaches him, he gapes at the demon with his mouth open. “Is it…is it dead?”

“If it isn’t now,” Pike says, reaching for his sword, which Jiro mindlessly clutches, “it will be soon. _Gimme_ that!” he adds, finally managing to tug the sword from Jiro’s nerveless fingers and stomping off in the direction of the prone demon.

The others gather around, and Blok distributes more healing potions, as Jiro Lays Hands on Meklavar, over her objections (“That thing threw you like a doll! You probably have broken ribs!”).

Jiro looks over at the mysterious man, who’s creeping forward, his wolf at his side, to examine the demon. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

He stops and turns to Jiro, his face wry. “This isn’t exactly the place for questions. I’m assuming you can wave your hands and get us home? I don’t really want to be here when that thing’s big brother shows up.”

With a start, Jiro nods. He looks around at the rest, all accounted for except for Pike, who disappeared with his sword some time ago. “Pike? What are you _doing?_”

“One minute, open the portal!” his voice comes faintly. Jiro frowns, but concentrates on the place they left.

They go through one-by-one, once the portal is opens, the young man and his wolf last. Jiro calls for Pike again, wondering what’s taking him so long.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Pike says, and Jiro sees him laboring over the rock, dragging a black horn as tall as he is.

“What are you–?”

“I thought you’d like to have it,” Pike says, thrusting it at him, and before Jiro can sort out his feelings on that, Pike pushes him through the portal back to their own world.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have some questions for the newest member of their party, whom Pike does not trust at all.

They’re too tired to make even the short trek back to the village, and Valayun is out of summoning arrows, so they make camp in a meadow about a hundred yards off the road.

Once they’re settled in, they start questioning the newcomer. Or…well, Jiro _intends_ to question him, but Pike gets there first, and it’s more like an interrogation.

“Who are you?” he spits. “Why were you following us?”

“I…” he looks at Jiro for help, and Jiro puts a restraining hand on Pike’s shoulder, pulling him back from where he’s been looming in the other’s face.

“You could have killed me for that jewel,” he says, continuing before Jiro can object, “but you didn’t. You actually paid me for it.”

Jiro gives Pike a quelling look, because he knows that’s still a sore subject for him, then looks back at the newcomer, who continues, “I…haven’t been around people for…awhile. At least not people who were kind to me, or close to it. I was lonely, and curious, so I followed your beast and shadowed you when you went after the cultists.”

Jiro snaps his fingers in realization. “That cultist strangled in vines! That was you!”

The figure across from him nods. “I saw that he was going to come at you, so I stopped him.”

“That’s twice you’ve saved my life,” Jiro whispers, but Pike cuts in, “Oh, like you couldn’t take on a farmer with a rusty sword!”

Jiro’s brows furrow, looking at Pike. He’d seen the cultists–he knows they were more than “farmers with rusty swords.” He can’t figure out why Pike has taken such an instant dislike to this young man, but then it occurs to him…he’s _jealous._ Jiro pinches the bridge of his nose, stifling a groan. That’s all he needs. 

“But to follow us into the _Abyss…_ Meklavar suddenly joins the discussion and Jiro jumps. He almost forgot the others were there.

The young man shrugs, his face inscrutable. “I didn’t have anything better to do.”

Jiro doubts that, but lets it pass. “But who are you? Why were you trying to rob us in the first place?”

The young man sighs, sweeping back his hood. “My name is Ithek,” he says. “My mother was an elf.” He tucks a strand of hair behind his ear, which Jiro notices is slightly pointed. “I didn’t fit in with my mother’s people, so I settled in a human village. I did tracking mostly, serving as a guide to hunters, finding missing children…then it happened.”

“What happened?” Blok asks, as Ithek pauses, apparently lost in thought.

Ithek snaps out of his thoughts. “The five-year-old daughter of one of the villagers was found murdered.”

“How horrible!” Valayun’s hand goes to her mouth.

Ithek nods, looking at her. “It was. The worst thing, though, was that she was holding a scrap of my cloak, and there was dire wolf hair on her clothing.”

“You’re a _murderer?!_” Pike squawks, as the others leap to their feet.

Jiro sighs. “People,” he says, before Ithek can respond, “If he was a murderer, would he confess it? Would he have _saved_ my life twice?”

The others settle sheepishly back on the ground, muttering apologies, but Pike still looks suspicious. 

“Of course I’m not a murderer!” Ithek snaps, glaring at Pike, who glowers back. “I was framed. But the evidence seemed clear, so they locked me up. I managed to escape, and got as far from the village as I could.”

Jiro nods carefully. “I believe you, Ithek, but just to make absolutely certain…”

Ithek turns to him, slightly wary. “What?”

“I’m a Paladin. I can cast Zone of Truth.”

There’s a flash of something Jiro can’t read in Ithek’s violet eyes, then his shoulders slump and he nods. “Fine.”

Jiro casts the spell, then asks “Did you kill that little girl?”

“_No!_”

“Truth,” Jiro says, and the tension eases from the people around him. Blok even gives Ithek a sympathetic smile.

“But why not just settle somewhere else?” Meklavar asks.

“I’d been there for five years. That village was my home. I had nowhere else to go.”

Now everyone except Pike looks sympathetic, and Jiro himself feels increasingly warm toward Ithek.

“But why did you rob us?” Pike demands.

Ithek hesitates again, then finally answers. “I need to clear my name. I can’t go back to the village myself, so I need to hire someone. That takes money. I took the job with the duergar because they offered me more than enough money to do that, even though I knew they’d probably double-cross me. When I saw you camped near there I figured you were after the gem and probably had some money.” He looks into Jiro’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Jiro nods. “I’m going to help you.”

“_WHAT?!_” Pike exclaims, and the others seem hardly less surprised, including Ithek himself. Jiro would find the way his eyes widen comical in any other situation.

Jiro turns to the others. “You don’t have to come with me, but now that I’ve discharged my obligations to the group, I’m going to help Ithek.”

“It’s not a question of obligation, Jiro,” Valayun says.

“Besides, you tried this self-sacrificing bullshit before,” Meklavar says, then snorts something under her breath that sounds like “_Paladins!_”

“But you’ve got no reason to help me!” Ithek says, gazing from one to the other of them, his brow furrowed.

“Damn straight,” Pike mutters, but only Jiro is close enough to hear.

“I do,” he says. “You saved my life.”

“I didn’t do it to make you _owe_ me,” Ithek says, crossing his arms and scowling. “I did it–”

“Because it was the right thing to do,” Jiro completes. “And I’m helping you because it’s the right thing to do. I would even if you hadn’t saved my life.”

Ithek blinks several times, then looks at the others, tilting his head to the side and squinting. “Do the rest of you feel that way, too?”

“Of course we do,” Valayun says, Meklavar nods and Blok says “Yeah, man.”

“Wait, wait, has everyone gone crazy here?! We don’t even know this guy!”

Jiro huffs out his breath in a sigh, casts his eyes skyward for a moment, then focuses on Pike. “He’s telling the truth. My spell proves it. And he saved my life. Does someone like that seem like the type that would murder a child?”

Pike squirms. “Well, no…”

“_And,_ lest you forget, the fact that Ithek was blamed means that there’s a child murderer still out there, who might kill again. You can help stop them,” Jiro says, then continues faux-casually “Or not. If you can live with that on your conscience.”

He’s seen that conscience in action, and it doesn’t disappoint him now. Pike splutters and gesticulates for a few moments, then growls “_Fine!_ We’ll help the goblin.”

“‘_Goblin_’?!” Ithek repeats incredulously, but Jiro grins.

“How far is your village?”


End file.
